Tag Archives: universe

Whether the Universe is infinite or infinite is something we won’t be figuring out for a while. We do know that the Universe is massive, and is expanding at an exponential speed. We’ve only been able to see up to the particle horizon which is the most distant observable part of the Universe but there is so much more to be unveiled. There are over a 100 hundred billion galaxies which contain hundreds of billions of stars and to be honest, these numbers start to melt my brain a little bit. Since the earth has only been in existence for 4/5 billion years, and the first homo sapien skeletons were found in Africa 200,000 years ago its still early days for us to be discovering the surroundings of our cosmos. It’s only in the past 50 years that we’ve seen inventions like the Hubble space telescope and computing technology which have given us the ability to observe further into the depths of the unknown.

It seems like its only a matter of time until we make those outrageous discoveries which will re-shape society as we know it.

Is there life on other planets?

Is there already extra-terrestrial life on this planet?

Could there be parallel universes?

Was Mars attacks actually based on a true story?

By us trying to find out the size of the Universe and sending probes and satellites out we are inching our way towards answers. We have figured out that after 13.8 billion light years in all directions the Universe doesn’t repeat itself , and based on this some super smart scientists have figured out that the Universe is currently around 93 light years across. This is how far we’ve got with the technology and brain power we have so far. However, assuming the Universe is infinite causes a different set of dilemmas.

Consider this, in a cubic meter of space there’s a finite number of particles that can possibly exist within that region. Those particles have a finite number of configurations considering their charge, spin, velocity etc. It is estimated that this number of particles is 10 to the power of 10 to the power of 70. This is a number so vast, you can’t write it out with all the pencils in the Universe. There are only 10 to the power of 80 particles in the observable Universe, so that’s much less than the possible configurations of matter in a cubic meter. If the Universe is infinite, eventually you will reach a place where there’s a duplicate cubic metre of space. The further you go the more duplicates you find.

As time goes on, you will discover more and more identical regions of space and eventually you will meet another you. And then you’ll stop, because at that point you’ll think you’ve gone crazy, but once you have a conversation with yourself you will realise that your both on the same path finding the same types of cubic metres of matter. As you continue you search you will find hundreds, then thousands then millions and billions of you. The number of you’s is infinite, and they will all be collecting other you’s. Some will be vastly different from you, some will be extremely similar. Have you ever looked in a mirror opposite another mirror and seen multiples of yourself? This is kind of like that but on a whole other level.

Determining whether the Universe in finite or infinite will have huge implications. Either way, whoever’s on that journey is going to have a real fun time.